Being proactive is a fundamental skill in leadership. And that’s known in more than just leadership circles!
In the hip-hop culture, there is an old adage – “stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready”. In fact, here are the lyrics from a popular rap song “If you stay ready” by Suga Free.
If you stay ready
You ain’t got to get ready
If you stay ready
You don’t ever ever have to get
Someone way out to get ready
— Suga Free with DJ Quik from the How to Be a Player album
Sometimes, leadership lessons come from the most unexpected places!
It doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, sooner or later, something is going to go wrong, and being proactive (or at least trying to be) will help you deal with it. In fact, Murphy’s Law – if anything can go wrong, it will – is pretty much a given. And in many cases, the things that go wrong can be anticipated. Not necessarily the details, but you can be certain that somewhere, somehow, a shipment will be delayed, an order will be incorrect, an error will be made in bookkeeping, or someone won’t show up work. Which means that if you are ready for such eventualities, if you are proactive about planning for them, then the consequences will not be as dreadful as they might otherwise have been.
What are you doing to stay ready, to be proactive? Are you thinking in advance about the most likely problems that can occur in your department? And are you doing something now so that the impact later will be minimal? Please share by adding your comments below.